Broadband agencies sort through funding applications | CivSource

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has $7.2 billion for broadband funding. And on August 20, 2009, the stimulus ball got rolling as the first wave of applications came swarming towards the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) and Rural Utilities Commission (RUS). After an initial delay due to the overwhelmed application system, NTIA officials said they had received more than 2,200 proposals amounting to $28 billion in funds. But in this round, the first of three possible waves of funding, the government has only $4 billion allocate.

Wednesday the NTIA delivered a database of applications, detailing the approved applications from every state in the Union, plus five territories and the District of Columbia. According to NTIA, applications were submitted by a wide range of broadband seekers, including state, local and tribal governments. Non-profits, libraries, hospitals, colleges and rural telecoms also applied. So did rural phone carriers. Noticeably absent among the applicants were major telecommunications carriers, like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Some of the largest telecoms to file applications were Hughes Networks, Level 3 and EchoStar...